His Fight
by shygirl1
Summary: Takes place after season 2. After the Familiars are gone, Alec finds himself in a different kind of fight. MaxAlec
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Alec, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Brenda/X5-008, etc.).

Notes: I've been meaning to write a Max/Alec fic for awhile and here it is! I guess there's maybe some spoiler-ish stuff for various season 2 episodes. This takes place a few months or so after "Freak Nation." This will be written from first person P.O.V. of the characters.

**Chapter 1: Alec**

I sat on the roof of the parking garage with what's probably a stupid grin on my face. Hey, I had a reason to be smiling like an idiot and no, the reason has nothing to do with a chick. Just hours ago, we defeated the Familiars. Well, Max did. I was lucky enough to have a ring side seat to the event. Only hours ago, we prevented what those whackos called 'The Coming' and saved every single human on the planet. Knowing our luck, they probably won't give a shit but for the moment, neither do I. I'm in too good of a mood.

Speaking of our fearless leader, she probably snuck out of T.C. and is up on the Space Needle as we speak. Hey, this is Max. Do you really expect her to do anything else at a time like this? I can't really blame her. There's something about sitting on top of a high place and just looking around at everything around and below you. It's pretty calming and cathartic.

"What are you doing here, pretty boy?" Mole asked.

Speaking of calm, here's one of the antidotes to it. I don't really mind, though. Mole's pretty cool. "I just had to clear my head," I said. "What's up?"

"Same ol' same ol'," Mole said. "I was just bored."

I laughed. "Is Max back yet?"

"How did you know that she wasn't in T.C.?" Mole wondered.

"I know Max," I said. "She's probably still up on the top of the needle if she isn't on her way back here." I got up and followed Mole into the garage and to the control room.

"I think that we should celebrate," Mole said.

"Yeah, you just need an excuse to get more cigars," I teased.

"Can you blame a guy?" Mole asked.

"I'll try to get some more on my next run," I promised him. I heard a noise and turned around and smirked. "Hey, Maxie. Enjoy the Space Needle?"

"It was fine, ass," she said, though she didn't seem to be in too bad of a mood.

"Will you please stop your obsession with my ass? It's starting to worry me," I remarked.

"Grow up," Max said. "I've got to call Logan anyway." She took out her cell phone and turned around and went into a corner of the control room to have some privacy.

I couldn't help frowning. Logan Cale was…I'm not sure exactly how to describe him. He's polite enough to me to my face, though I personally think he hates me, and…I just don't know. I just don't completely like the guy. I haven't told Max this yet because he just means _so_ much to her. I smiled wickedly to myself and tried to listen in on Max's conversation with him. She'll kill me if she realized what I was doing, but what the hell. It's fun to live on the edge sometimes.

"I just still can't believe that it's over with those Familiars," Max said to Logan. "I don't have to worry about White, I don't have to worry about any of them."

"You did great, Max," Logan said. I tried not to gag.

"Thanks, Logan," Max said.

"I should probably go. You and Alec will probably want to do some celebrating together in private," he said. Wow, the guy has brains for an ordinary. Not that Max and I would actually celebrate in private together because we weren't actually dating, but… I tried to shrug off that weird feeling I got and focused back in on the conversation.

"Actually, Logan," Max said. There was a slight pause. "Alec and I aren't together. I'm sorry for lying to you. I wanted to push you away because I didn't want to accidentally infect you with the virus and you said that you'd seen Alec and me together and it was just the perfect opportunity for me to push you away. I'm sorry."

I narrowed my eyes and glared at the phone in Max's hand. I wasn't mad at Max, but I was mad. I don't know who I was mad at, but I felt mad at somebody or something. I wish I knew who or what.

"You guys aren't dating?" Logan repeated. Even from a little bit of a distance and through the cell phone connection, I could hear the hope in his voice.

"No," Max confirmed. "We aren't." She sighed in defeat. "Not that it makes too much of a difference in our case, but I just wanted you to know."

"I understand," Logan said. "Thank you for telling me that, Max." Great, now he thinks that he has a shot with her again.

"You're welcome, Logan," she said. "I've gotta blaze. There's a lot of stuff to do. I'll talk to you later." She disconnected the phone and turned around and walked back to us. I looked off in another direction and I hoped that she hadn't noticed that I had been eavesdropping.

"Enjoy the conversation with your boyfriend?" Mole drawled. Thank you, Mole!

Max rolled her eyes. "Logan's not my boyfriend. I've got to get changed and then get some food and then I'll meet you back here to go over those plans. I'll see you guys later."

I couldn't help it. She had just handed it right to me. "Since as far as anybody knows, I am your 'boyfriend', would you like some help changing?" I gave her the grin that I knew irritated her the most. Damn, this was fun.

Max didn't disappoint me. She rolled her eyes again and smacked me hard in the shoulder. "Grow up for a change, ass." She walked away.

"You know, for somebody who isn't actually dating her, you sure do look at her like you do," Mole remarked.

"Huh?" I said.

"Nothing," Mole said innocently. "I've got to clean my shotgun." He turned around and he also walked away. I just shook my head and walked off to my own apartment inside of T.C., but I couldn't quite get that comment of Mole's out of my head.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Alec, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Brenda/X5-008, etc.).

Notes: I think at this point, the fic will just be from Alec's P.O.V.

I sat on the couch in my living room, going over some plans for a robbery that I was planning on making that night. Hey, another night, another dollar. This was going to be a great heist. The two paintings that were going on exhibition at the museum were worth millions. I had a fence all lined up and ready to go. All I needed to do was swipe the paintings tonight and then by this time tomorrow, I would be twenty-five million dollars richer. Well, Terminal City would be about twenty-five million dollars richer. I would only keep a small cut for myself. Yes, a cut that was actually small. I'd promised Max that I wouldn't keep more than five hundred grand of the money that I would get from fencing the paintings. I honestly wasn't going to keep more than that anyway, but Max was in one of her moods when I was going over the details of the heist. I have no idea why, since she and Logan were on better terms since she had told him that she and I weren't really dating. Oh, well. I'll never understand women.

I heard a knock at my door and I got up and answered it. "Max, Brenda, come on in. To what do I owe the pleasure of two ladies as beautiful as you guys?"

"The heist, remember?" Max said.

"I wish I knew what had gotten into her," I muttered.

Brenda, one of my old unit mates, raised an eyebrow. "Don't ask me."

"I wouldn't dream of it," I said. I gestured to where the plans lay on the coffee table. "There they are. I think we're all set. Entry and exit are covered, we've got a great route to the room through the air ducts with only minimal laser guarding of some of the vents, I think this could easily be a piece of cake."

"Could easily?" Brenda asked. She looked amused.

"Yes, could," I said. "I think I've learned my lesson about saying just 'will easily'."

"Oh? What ever happened to Mr. Cocky?" Max snapped.

Holy hell, what happened to her mood? "I don't know, sweetheart. Do you have any ideas?" I said.

"Okay, it sounds like we're good to go," Brenda said quickly. I guess she didn't want to have to stop Max and me from beating the crap out of each other.

I nodded. "What time should we meet in the control room to head out?" I asked.

"One o'clock sounds good," Max said. She sounded a little calmer. "If we leave then, we should reach the museum by one-thirty at the latest. That should give us plenty of time to get what we need."

"I think we've got ourselves a plan," I said.

"Great," Brenda said. "Do you've got anything in your 'fridge? I'm thirsty."

"Help yourself," I said. Brenda went into my kitchen, leaving Max and me alone in my living room. I shrugged. "What has been up with you, Max? Seriously. Ever since you called Logan the morning after you beat the Familiars, you haven't been in the greatest of moods."

"None of your business," Max said angrily.

I raised an eyebrow. "Geez, Max, I was concerned. The last time that I checked, I thought that we were friends."

Max shrugged. "Yeah, we are. I don't know why I've been in such a lousy mood for the past few days. Maybe things are catching up with me. I have no idea."

"Look, Max, are you sure--" A cell phone rang and interrupted me. Max took out hers and looked at the caller I.D.

"I'm sorry, it's Logan," she said. "I'll see you later tonight." She left my apartment. I sighed in frustration and sat back down on the couch.

"What's going on?" Brenda asked.

"I don't know," I said. "I was going to ask Max if she really was okay because this bitchiness is abnormal even for her and then Logan calls for only the fourth or fifth time in the past three days."

"Are you jealous?" Brenda asked.

"I am annoyed because he interrupted a conversation," I said. "Is that what you meant?"

Brenda looked exasperated. "No, you fucking idiot. Are you jealous of Logan?"

"Why should I be?" I said. "His family money is gone, he's annoying as hell, and he's not even living in that penthouse anymore so I can't occasionally go over with Max to mooch off of him. I'm not jealous of him."

"Oh my God, you're so fucking dense!" Brenda said. She shook her head and headed towards the door.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

Brenda looked thoughtful for a few moments before she shook her head. "You can figure it out. I'll see you later, Alec."

"See you later, Brenda," I said. I waited for her to leave before I took the plans and carefully put them away in my bedroom and then I went back into my living room and sat back down on the couch and turned on the TV, but I couldn't help feeling a little distracted. What had Brenda meant by me being jealous of Logan? It wasn't like he had anything that I could fence anymore. I shrugged. Maybe I'll figure that one out later or maybe I won't. Brenda could and did confuse the hell out of me sometimes back at Manticore before it burned down. I focused back on the TV. Yeah, I'll work on that one later.

TBC

More notes: Thank you so much to HoneyX5-452, OriginalProxy, angelofdarkness78, AngelKougaeri, Nica, and Athena80 for their reviews and support! It means a lot to me.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Alec, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Brenda/X5-008, etc.)

Notes: Spoiler-ish stuff for "Art Attack."

I watched Joshua fuss over the paintings that Max and Brenda and I brought back last night and sighed. I was happy that the big guy had also read up a lot on how to properly maintain and care for completed paintings of different types. I just know how to grab the things without getting caught. I don't know squat about cleaning dust of an oil painting or anything like that.

"When are we taking these to your contact and fencing them?" Max asked.

"Two days," I said. "He'll be back in Seattle then."

"These are definitely going to go a long way," Max said. "Even when you and Brenda and I take our cuts." She smiled. "Thanks for taking such a relatively small cut on these paintings."

"It's no problem," I said.

Max smiled again and turned back to look at the paintings. "Logan would have a heart attack if he knew that we were going to fence these. I think these are those American masterpiece ones that he always has a fit about whenever they're sold, especially to foreign buyers."

"My contact isn't foreign," I said with a smirk, but inside I couldn't help feeling annoyed. Logan could have as many fits as he wanted to, but we needed the money more than the paintings needed to stay in Seattle or even in the Unites States. Hey, maybe I should tell him. I'll take a couple of pics of the paintings with my digital camera and then after I sell them to my contact and get the money back here to Terminal City, email Logan those pictures and tell him about the deal. He's taking a break from Eyes Only so he probably won't know about the heist. Then again, maybe he's bored and needs something to poke his rich nose into.

Max looked at me and shook her head. "You moron." Her cell phone rang and she looked at the caller I.D. "It's Logan." She answered it and this time she didn't go off into a corner for privacy. "Logan, what's up?"

"I just got a call from one of my contacts," Logan said. "Max, do you know anything about a robbery that took place late last night at the museum downtown?"

I couldn't help snorting. I knew that I could read Logan like a book. Max heard me snort and reached over with her free arm and smacked my upside the head. "You must be getting soft, Max, that was bordering on gentle." She hit me harder. "Ah, that's much better."

"Sorry about that," Max said. "That was just Alec being Alec."

"Oh," Logan said, but I could definitely pick up on the annoyance in his voice. "Do you know anything about the robbery?"

"Yes, I do," Max said. "I was in on it. Alec and an old friend of his from his unit pulled it off. We need the money for Terminal City. Why?"

"Max, those are some of the last remaining great American works left in this country and those are only going to be in the country for six months until they're returned to the museum that they're being loaned from in Marseilles," Logan said. "Remember when…"

Bless her heart, Max actually cut him off. "Logan, spare me the lecture. I have a photographic memory so I remember perfectly well that time. We need the money more than some museum here or some museum in France needs those paintings. You know how badly we need the money. If you can't deal with it, then you can shut up. Got it?" I don't know how I managed to keep myself from cheering at that.

"I'm sorry," Logan apologized. He laughed a little. "It must be force of habit."

"It's okay," Max said. "I know how you are. Speaking of which, you didn't tell the contact that it could have been transgenics, did you?"

"No," Logan said. "I won't say a word about it being you and the other two." I have a name, remember Logie?

"Thank you," Max said. "I need to go. I'll see you sometime later."

"I'll see you later," Logan said. "Take care."

"You too," Max said. She disconnected and left the control room. I followed her.

"Logan almost have a temper tantrum about the heist?" I said.

Max rolled her eyes but she didn't hit me. "Logan did not almost have a temper tantrum."

"It sounded pretty close to one to me," I said. I couldn't help grinning. This was a blast. "'Max, those are some of the last remaining great American works…'" I was using a very-high pitched version of Logan's voice and I couldn't even finish because I started laughing. I didn't stop laughing even when Max hit me again. "Max, that was funny!"

"Shut up," Max said.

"Fine, if you insist," I said. We were quiet for a few moments. "He really needs to get laid." I grinned at the wide-eyed shock on Max's face. "I just call them like I see them, Maxie."

"You…you…asshole!" she finally managed to say.

"Hey, you look like you need some loosening up yourself," I said. "Come on, White and his buddies are gone now. Let loose even if it's only for one night. Go and get drunk. We've got a pretty decent collection here, you know. Do something fun."

"How about I kick your ass?" Max threatened.

"You're into rough and kinky? Believe it or not, I'm not into that kind of thing but I'm always up for trying something once," I said.

"Fuck you," Max said. She turned off and started walking in a different direction.

"I love you too, Maxie!" I yelled after her. I grinned and headed to my apartment. Now that is how you loosen up and have a good time.

TBC

More notes: Thank you so much to GiRl MaGe, angelofdarkness78, Nica, HoneyX5-452, and Ro for their reviews and support!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Alec, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Brenda/X5-008, etc.).

"So much time, so little to do," I remarked. I pushed my empty beer bottle aside and shrugged. "I'm bored."

"So what?" Brenda said. She shrugged. "It's been a slow day."

I sighed. "I just wish I could go to Crash and have a beer. I miss shooting pool with Sketchy."

"Maybe one of these days the government will get up off of their asses and decide to let us officially join the general public," Nick, another X5 friend of mine from Manticore, said.

The anomaly who was tending the bar in the place that we'd set up in T.C. shook his head. "That won't be happening anytime this century."

"Hey, no reason to give up hope," I said. "It might happen in the next decade." I grinned at the laughs that I got from the other transgenics in the bar. "Besides, where's the fun in sending one of our Psy Ops people to Washington and having him or her talk with the president for awhile?"

"Tempting, but not a lot of fun," Brenda said. She looked at her watch. "I shouldn't stay for too much longer."

"You've only had one beer," Nick said.

Brenda raised an eyebrow. "And I also have a one-year-old son that I have to pick up from Gem before he drives her crazy."

"Pete gets along with Victoria, though, doesn't he?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, the two of them get along with each other just fine," Brenda said. "I'm worried about the two of them teaming up and driving poor Gem up the wall. Two one-year-old second-generation X5s together? Think about it for a few minutes, Alec."

I thought about it and I winced. I'd babysat Brenda's son a few times. To say that he could be a handful at times was an understatement. He's a nice kid, but I don't want to be left alone with him until he's older if I can help it. "I've thought about it."

"I knew you were a smart guy," Brenda said. She grinned and looked over to the entrance and her eyes widened. "Look at her, guys. She's beautiful. Do you think she'd turn me down if I asked her out on a date?" She turned back to us and saw Nick gaping at her and raised an eyebrow. "What? Didn't I tell you that I bat for both teams?"

"No," Nick said.

"Where have you been?" I said.

"I was in my own unit, numbnuts," Nick said.

"What do you think, Alec?" Brenda asked. "Should I ask for it or do you think she'll turn me down faster than any of us can blink?"

"I thought that you prefer blonds, Brenda," I teased.

Brenda stuck her tongue out at me. "I do, for both males and females. But note the word prefer, Alec. That does indicate that while I try to date blonds as often as possible, I do not limit myself to them."

"Has Max tried to set you up with her old roommate, then?" I asked.

"Yeah, she has," Brenda said. "I'm thinking about it. I'm waiting to hear back from Max as to what Cindy thinks and I guess we'll go from there. Sneaking out of Terminal City shouldn't be too hard. I'll just put some makeup over the barcode and go out the tunnels."

"The things we do for a good date," Nick said. He grinned suggestively and I laughed. Brenda looked annoyed.

"I'm not gonna try to sleep with somebody on a first date, you moron," she said. "A: That's not my thing to begin with. B: I have my son to consider now even if it was. C: My first night with my breeding partner doesn't count."

"I never said that it did," Nick said innocently.

"You know that—" I turned around and saw Max entering the bar and heading towards us. "Nice timing, Max. Want something to drink?"

Max shook her head. "No, I can't stay for that long. I just needed to ask you a favor. Can you do my share tonight of the planning for the job that we're going to be pulling at that bank? I might also need you just to fill in for me as well on the actual job."

"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem," I said. "Why?"

"Logan called me a few minutes ago," Max said. She smiled. "He managed to get in contact with some doctor that's a friend of a friend or something like that of Dr. Shankar who's in Vancouver. This doc's not ex-Manticore, don't worry, but he's trustworthy. Logan had told Dr. Shankar awhile ago about the virus bitch and Dr. Shankar told this guy and he says that it sounded curable so Logan and I are going to drive up there later tonight so we can meet him and hopefully finally end this virus once and for all."

Wow. I didn't know quite what to say. "Wow. Congratulations, Max."

"Thanks," she said. She sighed. "I should accept congrats yet, though. It hasn't actually been cured."

"True," I said. I tried to shove aside the weird hope that I felt at that thought. That made no sense. "I guess I should say good luck, then. When are you guys heading over there?"

"In two hours," Max said. "We're supposed to meet with this guy at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning in his office. Listen, I should get going. I need to tell Joshua where I'm going and say good-bye and start packing."

"Yeah," I said. "Well, good luck again, Max. Let me know when it's a done deal."

"I will," Max promised. "Thanks again." She smiled at me and turned around and left.

I sat back down at the table. "Looks like she and Logan are finally going to get that virus cured. One more screw you to good old Manticore. Cheers." I raised my bottle and I started to drink, but then I remembered that it was empty. "Damn. Hey, can I get another one here?"

"Relax, Alec," Brenda said. "She's just going to get that virus finally taken care of. You don't have to look like it's the end of the world."

"I do not," I said. "Do I?"

"A little bit," Nick said.

I could have sworn that Brenda was actually trying not to smile. I don't get it. "Look, how about you go to the gym and get a good workout in? You look like you have a lot of frustration to take out on somebody or something and a good workout usually puts you into a better mood."

"I'm not frustrated," I protested. I shrugged. "What the hell. I was thinking about doing that anyway."

"I don't know who was it that said that you never took good advice," Brenda teased. She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll be seeing you boys around. Be good." She left.

"So, what is it? Another beer or gym time?" Nick asked.

"Gym time," I said. "A couple of rounds hitting that punching bag sounds good."

Nick shrugged. "What the hell, I'll come with you." We paid the bartender and then headed outside. Yeah, a few rounds hitting L--the bag sounds good.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to kim, Angel of Darkness231, Alana84, HoneyX5-452, riviera41797, angelofdarkness78, GiRl MaGe, and calistra for their reviews and support!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Alec, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Brenda/X5-008, etc.).

"How many people came in yesterday?" I asked Dix several days later when I was checking in with him in the control room. "What series?"

"Five people," he replied. "Two of them desert-series, the rest of them were X3s. All of them were from the Wyoming facility, so you probably wouldn't recognize them by site."

"Probably not," I agreed. "What about—"

"What about you give me a welcome back, huh?"

I turned around and saw Max standing in the doorway, smiling. My heart was pounding at the surprise. I didn't think that she and Eyes Loser—I mean, Logan would be getting back for another day or two. I covered up my shock and gave her a smirk. "In order for me to give you a welcome back, Maxie, you would have to be welcome here."

"Shut up, ass," Max said.

"I see a few days away hasn't cured you of your obsession with my ass," I pointed out.

"I see a few days hasn't cured you of your stupidity," Max said. She smiled again. "In spite of all of that, I still missed you."

I smiled. "I missed you too, Max." I walked up to her and gave her a hug. "Welcome back home." I took a deep breath. "How did it go? You never called while you were away."

"It went perfectly," Max said. "The virus is a thing of the past. There's nothing standing in the way between Logan and myself anymore."

"Nothing except your responsibilities here and the fact that even with the transfusion of Josh's blood that got his legs working again last year, it's still unsafe for him to spend more than a little while at a time here in Terminal City," I pointed out. I winced inwardly. That didn't come out quite as gently as I had hoped. I braced myself for the punch or slap from Max. I blinked in surprise. It never came.

"I know," Max said, sighing dejectedly instead of punching me in the arm. "If it's not one thing, it's another."

"But you did get the first major obstacle cleared, right?" I said. "All we have to do now is somehow get the government to let us out into the general public."

"Which they haven't shown the slightest interest in doing, in spite of what we've done by taking out White and his loony friends," Max said.

"They could still be going over their options," Dix said helpfully.

I nodded. "That seems like a plausible scenario." I looked at Max. "Hey, why are you so down? I thought that we'd have to scrape you off of the ceiling when you came back if the trip was a success."

"I'm fine. I guess I'm just winding down after the excitement of the last few days or even weeks," Max said. "It's been a lot. Taking out White, getting rid of this virus, wouldn't you be feeling drained?"

"I don't know, I've got enough energy to—" I winced when I felt Max's fist connect with my shoulder. There it was. "I didn't say anything bad, Max."

"You were going to," Max said. "I've developed a sixth sense for this."

"You have, huh?" I said. I raised an eyebrow. "Okay, Maxie, what am I about to say right now that's going to be bad enough for you to punch me?"

"Shut up," Max said. "I need to get back to my apartment. I told Logan that I'd call him when I got back here."

I rolled my eyes. "How old are you, Max, three? Are you going to call your daddy to let him know that you're all safe and sound? Hey, Logan is kinda old for you. I don't think that he is old enough to be your father, but he might be pushing that age. I don't know everything. How old is Logie, by the way?"

"Just shut the fuck up, Alec," Max snapped. "The age difference between myself and Logan is none of your business. We're both adults and that's the only thing that matters. And I agreed to let Logan know when I got in here because he asked me because he was concerned about me, okay? That does not imply anything. People who care about each other are usually concerned about each other. I thought you would be at least smart enough to know that little fact."

"I do know that fact, Max," I said. "I also thought that you would be smart enough to recognize the fine line between being concerned for somebody and being almost smothering or just plain overwhelming. Yeah, you're right. You are an adult. Does Logan recognize that or is he…how should I put this…old-fashioned? You know, you might refer to it as caveman-type behavior where he doesn't want to let his woman out of his sight if he can help it. What's going to be next? He asks you to put a webcam up in your apartment to be able to keep an eye on you because he's 'concerned'?"

"Forget it! I thought, 'gee, Alec's a good friend and I thought that he'd be happy for me that I finally got this virus bitch taken down for good,' but boy was I wrong! You really are nothing more than a good-for-nothing ass!" Max yelled.

"I am a good friend!" I protested. "I'm a good friend who happens to be pointing out this over-protective behavior of Logan's for your sake, Max! It's not healthy for either of you."

"I think that I can make my own decisions about Logan!" Max said.

"I know that you can," I said. "Why don't you actually use that X5 hearing of yours, Maxie? Did I at any time say 'don't let Logan get away with this kind of behavior'? I didn't. I simply gave you my own personal take on the situation and I'm letting you decide what to do about it _like an adult should do._" Max was actually quiet, though she was clearly still fuming. We both knew that I'd won on that particular point and Max does not like it when somebody beats her in an argument, especially when the other person really is right.

"Fine," she finally said. "Thank you for treating me like an adult, Alec. Now I'm going to go to my apartment and call Logan because I decided on my own to do that and then I'll be back so that I can get back to work. I'll see you later." She turned around and left the control room.

"That was some argument," Dix said. "I thought that you were actually going to physically fight each other."

I let my breath out. "You know, I was starting to think that was going to happen myself." I shook my head. "She is just so damn stubborn sometimes. I just…it's just impossible with her sometimes."

"Yeah, that's our fearless leader for you," Dix agreed. "Anyway, what do you think about the placement of these new arrivals?"

"Right, let's check the database and see what kind of space we've got available for them," I said. We walked back to Dix's computer. I tried to forget about the argument that I'd had with Max, but I couldn't push it completely out of my mind. What was it with that woman?

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78, MirellaM, Aleja21, calistra, Ro, Alana84, AngelKougaeri, and Angel of Darkness231 for your reviews and support! Angel of Darkness231, Dr. Shankar was a woman. The 'he' that I was referring to was the friend of hers that was going to cure the virus. I probably should have written that more clearly. Sorry! Thank you all so much again!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Alec, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Brenda/X5-008, etc.).

Notes: Spoiler-ish stuff for "Freak Nation."

As quietly as I could, I opened the tunnel exit just enough for me to have a quick look around to see if anybody was in the room. Thank goodness it was clear. I quickly opened the exit the rest of the way and pulled myself up into the room in an abandoned building somewhere on the outskirts of Seattle. I waited a moment for Brenda to pull herself up and out of the tunnel before I shut the exit and we left the building. "Why couldn't Max have gone to do this? Logan is her boyfriend. I thought that she'd want to spend every possible moment with him since they got the virus cured last week."

"She went into heat this morning, remember?" Brenda reminded me. "That's why I volunteered to go with you instead of Max. Besides, you were going to go anyway."

"I know," I said. "Hey, maybe it won't be as bad because Max isn't going. I won't have to see Logan making those puppy dog eyes at her and have to fight the urge to yark every second."

"You really are unbelievable," Brenda said. She rolled her eyes. "How did I manage to spend more than two decades in the same unit with you without losing my mind?" We walked up the steps of Josh's old house and Brenda rang the doorbell. We heard footsteps approaching and then the door opened and there stood the man himself.

"Hello, Alec," he said politely. He turned to Brenda. "I'm sorry, I don't believe that we've met before."

"Logan, this is a unit mate of mine, Brenda a.k.a. X5-008," I said. "Brenda, this is Logan Cale a.k.a. Eyes Only and Max's boyfriend."

"Pleasure to finally meet you," Brenda said. "Max has told me a lot about you."

"Thank you," Logan said. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Brenda." He stepped aside so we could walk in and then he closed the door behind us once Brenda and I were in the living room. "Speaking of Max, where is she? I thought that she was going to come here."

"I guess that would explain the smell of spaghetti," I remarked. Looks like Logie-boy was planning on having a nice romantic candlelit dinner for two. Sucks to be him. "Max went into heat this morning so she couldn't risk even leaving her apartment, much less Terminal City." I shrugged. "Didn't she call you to let you know?" That actually did surprise me a little. Maybe Max had let at least a little bit of our argument from last week sink through her head.

"No," Logan said. "I haven't heard from her since yesterday." Ooooh, you've gone a whole day without hearing from your girlfriend. Do you want a medal? He sighed and tried to look happy or at least not like a miserable idiot. "I made plenty of spaghetti. Since Max isn't here, would either of you like to join me for some dinner?" I do have to give the guy credit for his manners.

"Cool, thanks," I said.

"That would be great," Brenda said. "Max has told me about how well you cook. I've been practically craving your food ever since the first time she talked about it." She turned to me. "What do you think, Alec? Should we get the stuff that Logan has for us first or should we have dinner before we get that done?" I saw the look in her eyes and I grinned. Brenda knew me as well as anybody did for sure.

"I guess that it would make more sense for us to eat first before we get what else Logan has to offer," I said. "I always hated to work on an empty stomach, anyway." Logan led us to the dining room. I looked around and whistled. "Not bad, Logan. I thought Josh had the place pretty well cleaned up when he first shacked up here, but you've really put the finishing touches on it."

"Thank you," Logan said. He quickly set out a third place setting and served us our food. I dug in. Okay, he can definitely cook. I missed scamming a meal or two from him whenever I would tag along with Max to see him. This beat the crap that we eat everyday back in T.C. by a mile and then some.

"This is really good," Brenda said. She ate another mouthful of her spaghetti. "I'm really impressed."

"Thanks," Logan said. "I'm glad that you like it."

"Yeah, this is great stuff," I said.

"Thank you, Alec," Logan said. He was definitely not _quite_ as friendly as when he'd thanked Brenda for her compliment. I don't think an ordinary like him would have noticed. I glanced over at Brenda and I could tell that she had also picked up on it. She looked mildly amused but she didn't say a word. "So, Brenda, what do you do?"

"Right now, I do my share of work around Terminal City and I'm also the mother of a one-year-old son courtesy of the breeding program and my breeding partner," Brenda replied.

"What about before Terminal City and everything?" Logan asked. "After the broadcast that led to the fire."

"Well, I was pregnant during the time between when Manticore burned to the ground after that broadcast of yours and the Jam Pony hostage crisis," Brenda said. I caught the edge in her voice and I wasn't quite sure whether to laugh out loud or to punch Logan. Brenda had told me when she'd arrived in Terminal City that she'd barely managed to make it out of Manticore alive. "I got to Terminal City four days after the hostage situation and I gave birth two days afterwards, so I really wasn't able to do much for the following couple of weeks when my son was so young. Before then, while I was still at Manticore, I was the explosives specialist in Alec's and my unit. I actually specialized in weapons and ordinance of all types as well as in strategy."

"Were you the commanding officer?" Logan asked.

"No," Brenda said. She pointed to me. "Alec was our commanding officer. He was one of the top soldiers in the facility that we grew up in, actually." Logan blinked and I grinned. Did I forget to tell Logan about what my rank was back at Manticore? Ooops. He was completely blindsided by that little nugget of information.

"You're telling me that Alec was a commanding officer back at Manticore?" he said in disbelief. I felt myself getting defensive. Just because I don't act like I have Mole's shotgun stuffed up my ass all of the time does not mean that I am in anyway not a great leader. I happen to believe that it's not good if you're unusually stiff and unrelenting at all times. Trust me on this. I've seen guys and girls like that back at Manticore and they were usually the ones to implode or explode first.

Brenda was almost as defensive as I was. "Yes, he was a commanding officer and he was my commanding officer as well. Don't let the relaxed attitude fool you, Logan. Alec told me about what happened at Jam Pony and what happened, even after he took one in the arm. I've seen him in plenty of battles and on several other missions and I've never seen anybody be cooler under fire than him."

"I'm sorry," Logan apologized.

"It's okay," I said. "No harm, no foul."

"Likewise," Brenda said. We quietly finished our dinner before we went back into the living room. "So, where's the stuff that Max said you have for us?"

"Give me a moment," Logan said. He went upstairs and came back with a box shortly afterwards. "The paper records and the discs containing the computer records that Asha had found are all in here." He handed the box to me.

"Thanks," I said honestly. "This is really going to be a big help to us."

"No problem," Logan said. He sighed. "I'm really worried about Max. It's not like her not to go this long without calling me. Even when she still had the virus in her system, we talked at least once or twice a day and we haven't talked at all yet today."

"Yeah, you mentioned that before," I remarked.

Logan glared at me for a moment. "I know that. But I'm worried."

"Logan, she's in heat," Brenda pointed out. "Trust me, it is harder than you can imagine for a female X5 to stay sane while she is in heat, especially knowing that there are plenty of potentially ready, willing, and able males in the immediate vicinity. She needs all of the focus and concentration that she can get right now and no offense or anything, a phone conversation with you could very well be a distraction to her."

"Oh," Logan said. "Still…"

"Don't sweat it, Logan ol' pal," I said. I patted him on the back. "Just take a load off. She'll call you again when she's recovered from her heat-induced lack of sanity." I nodded towards Brenda and we walked out of the house and headed back towards Terminal City. When we were back in the tunnel again, I turned to her. "Well? What do you think of Logan?"

"He tries to be nice, but I wish that he wouldn't shove his foot in his mouth every other sentence," Brenda said. "It never ceases to amaze me how some people can be smart one minute and complete idiots the next. I believe Max when she tells me how smart Logan is and everything, but that smart guy wasn't exactly the person that I met just now."

"That's our Logan," I agreed.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Alec, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Brenda/X5-008, etc.).

I took off my jacket and threw it onto the couch before I sat down in an armchair, picked up the remote, and turned on the TV. Ahhh, nothing like relaxing in front of the good old boob tube after a shift on sentry duty. Not that anything happened. Hell, even the number of protestors outside of the gates have been slowly but steadily decreasing in the last couple of weeks since White and company bit the big one. Still, a four hour shift on sentry duty is a four hour shift on sentry duty, especially when the only other person that's there with you is one of those weird X7s from back at my old facility. Try having a conversation with one of those kids even now. I turned my head when I heard a knock at the door. "Yeah?"

"It's me," Max said. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," I said. "The door's not locked." I waited for Max to enter my apartment. "Hey, there. What's going on?"

"Not much as far as I can tell," Max said. She shrugged. "How about from your end? How did your shift on sentry duty go?"

"Boring," I said. "None of the ordinaries outside had the balls or sheer stupidity to try anything that would amuse me and that über- weird X7 that I was paired with still doesn't know how to make any kind of normal conversation and I know that they know how to talk using code and regular old sign language."

Max raised an eyebrow. "Wait a second. You actually wanted one of those guys outside of the gates to have actually tried to do something?"

"I told you, I was bored," I said.

"You need help big time," Max said, rolling her eyes.

"Wanna help me?" I said. I grinned at her. "What do you say?"

"I say, for the millionth time, that you need to grow up," Max said.

"What can I say? I never get tired of hearing that voice of yours telling me that," I said. "Come on, Max. You've not only pulled sentry duty before, but you've mostly done it at night when it would be even more boring than it just was for me. How can you stand there and tell me that you didn't wish that something would have happened so that you wouldn't have been bored out of your mind?"

"I will not get pulled into an insane and completely pointless conversation with you," Max said. "Drop it, Alec."

"Oh, come on," I said. I got up from my chair and walked up next to her. "How about you tell me when the last time was when you were so incredibly bored that all that you wanted to do was to punch your fist through a wall, which hurts like hell by the way, or scream or just do something absolutely stupid? Tell me, Max."

"Fine," Max said. "I guess there's no harm in this. The last time I was ever that bored was probably last week when I was talking with L—Laura, that X4 who had gotten in about two months ago. You know, the one who's been helping Dix with the surveillance. I ran into her in the control room and I got roped into this long conversation with her and she was so dull it drove me crazy."

I tried not to smile when I heard the hesitation it Max's voice that she couldn't quite cover up in time. Her precious boyfriend bored the hell out of her! All hail Logan Cale, King of the Boring. "Yeah, Laura does have a tendency to just ramble about the most boring things. But enough about her, why don't you tell me why Logie bored you when you talked to him last week? Has he bored you since or was it just that one time? Personally, he bores me every—" I didn't finish my sentence for the usual reason it's hard to finish a sentence around Max.

"Shut the hell up," Max yelled as she pulled her arm back and put her hands on her hips. "I did not say or imply that Logan was the one that bored me." Oh yeah, there's a lie right there. I remember that they taught us how to lie through our teeth when we were about seven or eight years old, so I'm sure that you know how to do it. Damn, she must be pissed. "And not only that, but why do you have to refer to him as Logie?"

"It's just a nickname, Max," I said. "You don't need to get all bent out of shape over something like that." I looked at her, genuinely concerned. "Are you and Logan having problems?"

"I didn't say that either," Max said.

"Max, I'm being serious," I said. "You guys are doing okay, right?"

"We're doing absolutely fine," Max said. "All things considered, I couldn't be happier with our relationship." I could still hear a slight hesitation in her voice, but I decided to just let it go for once. "Don't worry, Alec. Everything's fine."

I nodded. "Good." I gestured over to my kitchen. "You want anything to eat? I might have some leftovers in my fridge."

"Nah, that's okay. Thanks anyway, though," Max said.

"No problem. Anytime," I said. "So, you want to do anything? There's actually some good stuff on TV right now. I was just watching a movie on Channel Eight."

"Sounds good," Max said. She grinned and practically threw herself into the chair that I had been sitting in when she had come to my apartment.

"I think not, Maxie," I said. "I was sitting in that chair earlier."

"You aren't now," Max replied. She stuck her tongue out at me.

Since she wants to play that game… "I can fix that one in a snap," I said. I grabbed one of her arms and yanked her up and out of the chair, intending to move her aside so that I could have sat back down in my old spot. I misjudged it, though, and I ended up pulling her right against me. I felt my breath catch in my throat, along with my heartbeat. "Um…Max?"

"Yeah?" she replied. She looked up into my eyes and if I was capable of thought before, I sure kissed that possibility good-bye. I felt myself moving closer to her, almost, almost…

There was another knock at the door. "Hey, Alec, we need to go over those plans with Nick for the out-of-town job we're going to do tomorrow night, remember?" Brenda said from the hallway. "You said that you wanted to meet down in the cafeteria in five minutes. Let's move it or lose it."

Max moved away from me in a split second. "Well…I'll see you later, Alec." She left my apartment, saying a distracted hi to Brenda as she went away."

"Yeah," I said quietly.

Brenda entered the apartment, holding Pete in her arms. She looked concerned. "Did I mess something up?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "I really don't."

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Alec, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Brenda/X5-008, etc.).

I grabbed a towel that I left on a bench and wiped my face with it. That was much better. I love a good workout. I sat down on the bench and picked up my water bottle and took a sip as I watched two little X8s having a go at sparring. They might not have as much training as us older transgenics, but they sure had some enthusiasm. I looked up as Max sat down next to me. "Hey, Max. What's up?"

"Came here for a workout," Max said. "You done?"

"Yeah, I had a pretty good one," I said. "How have things been going finding the rest of your brothers and sisters?"

"Not so good," Max said. "Let's just say that they would beat the hell out of you at Escape and Evade. At least Krit and Syl will finally be getting back from their fundraising trip in Europe tomorrow. I thought they were never going to be coming back."

"It's only been a few weeks," I said. I shook my head. "I still can't believe that they managed to get that much money while they were over there."

"Oh?" Max said. "Weren't you the one who suggested that we would be more likely to gather more money overseas than back here in the United States?"

"I know that, I'm just impressed with how well they did," I said. "They definitely exceeded my base expectations for the trip." I drank some more of my water. I really was impressed. "The meeting tomorrow afternoon to discuss how the funds should be distributed and used should be interesting."

"No doubt," Max agreed. "We've already replenished our weapons supply with some of the money from the big job that you and I pulled with Brenda and we're finally fixing up those buildings over in the northeast corner of T.C. But knowing our people, they'll find something to bitch about. Then again, how long have we been here in Terminal City and how much stuff do we still find that has to be fixed?"

"Good call," I said. I sniffed and made a face. "Okay, I do believe that it is shower time for yours truly."

"I couldn't agree more," Max said. "The last time that I smelled something that rank it was a year ago back before we got our kitchen situation completely under control and that X6 attempted to make breakfast. You need to get into that shower pronto."

"Would you like to join me, Maxie?" I said, grinning wolfishly. I felt my heart beat start to escalate and tried to ignore it.

Max smacked me. "In your wildest dreams, Alec."

Actually, now that I think about it…what the hell is going on with me? "Suit yourself, Max." I shrugged and got up. "I'm gonna get changed. Have a good workout. Do you want to meet in the cafeteria for dinner later? I'm supposed to meet Nick there but I know that he won't mind if you join us. You know that he likes you." I felt this irrational surge of jealousy. Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I feel like I'm about this close from doing Max's job for her and kicking my own ass.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Max said. "I'm sneaking out to meet Logan for dinner."

"Hey, if I had a choice between eating in the cafeteria or eating Logan's cooking, I would pick Logan's cooking every day of the year," I said honestly. I would, too…if the idiot stayed in the kitchen.

"You and everybody else that's present in Terminal City," Max agreed. "Unfortunately, nobody's got an invite except for me. It's a date."

Oh look, it's jealousy again! Maybe I should wave to it. "Yeah, well, I hope Logie doesn't bore you to death with his schtick," I said.

"Excuse me?" Max said, her eyes narrowing. Uh-oh, I spy an ass-kicking coming my way. I quickly glanced up at the clock that was on one of the gym walls.

"Oh, will you look at that," I said. "It's time for me to shower and change in the locker room. Bye, Max." I blurred over to the locker rooms where I was safe…I hoped. I didn't think that Max would be pissed enough to follow me in here, but you never knew. I had no doubt that she would do that if she was angry enough. I quickly stripped off my workout clothes and jumped into one of the shower stalls and set a new speed record for showering. I dried off and changed back into my normal clothes and I hauled ass out of the gym. Once I got to where I thought was a fairly safe distance, I sat down on some building's steps and sighed.

What was going on with me? It really was starting to get ridiculous. Why the hell am I all of a sudden so weird around and when it comes to Max? We've been friends for quite awhile now so what gives with how I've been acting lately? I certainly didn't have a clue what the fuck was happening in my head. I frowned. This was giving me almost as much of a headache as the last time I had to listen to Logan go off on one of his 'saving the less fortunate' rants.

I clenched my fist. You know, that guy doesn't have to be in the room for me to have to fight the urge to give him a beat down. Every single time I think about how annoyingly whiney he is, how he sometimes seems to somehow look down on us transgenics despite claiming to be in _love_ with one, how he thinks that he's above and beyond anybody, and most of all how disgustingly possessive he is when it comes to Max. Who does he think that she is? She's an independent, self-confident woman, not some clingy little girl who needs her daddy to hold her hand as she crosses the street. For God's sake, she only needed you in the first place because she wanted to find her brothers and sisters. You more or less blackmailed her into sticking around after she swiped that statue from you. Fucking jerk. Calm down, Alec! This is stupid. You need to be able to think clearly in order to figure this out and not act like you're Max's boyfriend even though you wish that you were—

I slapped myself in the forehead. That was it! I wanted Max. I was in love with the woman. That's why I couldn't stand how Logan treated her and why I hated the jerk in general. Okay, I don't think that I would have liked him all that much regardless because he doesn't have a clue—okay, getting off track again. I love Max and I wanted her to be my girlfriend for real. I wanted…I don't know, everything. I wanted to be with her, be her friend, be her lover…call me greedy, but I don't care. That's just how I feel.

"Bren's going to have an 'I told you so' fest when I tell her," I muttered to myself. Brenda always was good at picking up on things like this. I sighed. Even so, what was I going to do now? I chuckled. What else was I going to do? I was going to get Max. It wasn't going to be easy, but I always liked doing things the hard way. Where's the fun in doing it any other way?

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Alec, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Brenda/X5-008, etc.).

I walked through Terminal City on my way back to my apartment from the gym. Ever since my big epiphany last night my head has been spinning like crazy. Man, if I work out to clear my head then I must be in the best shape of my life right now. I don't think that I've put in this many hours in the gym since before Manticore burnt down. I stretched my arms. My head is still a mess. I mean, what am I going to—

"Hey, Alec."

Well, what do you know? "Hey, Max," I said. "Where are you off to?"

"The usual," Max said. "I'm going to go over the latest figures that Dix has got and then I'm going over to Joshua's old place to spend some time with Logan before Krit and Syl get back here and then we've got that meeting."

"Max, I love you," I blurted out. Way to go, idiot. Just drop it on her out of the blue.

Max looked amused and…just a tiny bit hopeful? Either that or I'm hallucinating. "Excuse me?"

"I love you," I repeated. What was the point in dropping it when the ice has already been broken? "I'm in love with you. That's why I've been acting like such a dick about Logan recently."

"Very funny, Alec," she said. "Points for trying to take my mind off of how hectic this day is going to be fore me, though."

"Max, I'm being serious for once," I said. "I really am in love with you." I tried to reach for her hand, but she yanked it away.

"Shut up," she said. "You're going beyond amusing and into getting your ass kicked territory. Knock it off."

"Max, I'm sorry," I said. "I just thought that I should tell you how I f—"

"Just shut up," Max snapped. "I'll see you around." She stormed off.

I let my breath out and hung my head. It felt like I had taken a few rounds in the chest from an M-16. Nice going, you fucking moron. You just blurt it out completely out of nowhere and she gets pissed off and blows you off. I guess I really know where she stands, don't I? I wiped tears from my face. Great, now I'm crying like a little girl. Just what I really need right now. Then again, can you really blame me for that?

"I'm sorry."

I jumped and turned around to see Brenda standing behind me. "Thanks for the heart attack, Bren."

"Anytime," Brenda said, but her expression was clearly sympathetic. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I was on my way back from the nursery from dropping Pete off there because I have a million things that I wanted to get done, but it looks like you're going to need my attention first. Come on." She led me in the direction of the apartment building that both of us lived in and eventually into her apartment. She gestured to the couch. "Have a seat. You look like you could use something to drink."

"Thanks," I said gratefully. I waited while Brenda went into the kitchen and came out a few moments later with a glass with a clear liquid in it. I started to drink it and nearly choked on it in surprise. "This is water."

"Duh," Brenda said. "I said that you looked like you could use a drink, I didn't say it was alcoholic."

"Your sense of humor sucks," I told her.

"Thank you, so does yours," Brenda said. She sat down next to me. "Tell me the entire story here, Alec."

"Last night I finally figured out that I'm madly in love with Max," I said. "Which is at least part of the reason that I hate Logan so much. Though lets face it, the odds are pretty good that I would have hated the jerk anyway."

Brenda nodded. "He definitely isn't at the top of my list of my favorite people in the world."

"I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do about how to go about telling Max how I felt about her," I said. "Then, as you just heard, all I ended up doing was opening my big mouth and now she hates me except this time it hurts so much worse." I sighed. Damn, I was really starting to feel depressed.

"Let's take this one thing at a time," Brenda said. "I'll help you figure things out." She smiled. "Good thing that one of my specialties is strategy, huh?"

"An intellectual who likes to blow shit up," I said. "You're so rare. Unfortunately, I prefer the type of woman who likes to beat the daylights out of me."

"Then let's put our heads together and figure out how to get her for you," Brenda said. "How did Max sound to you when she told you to shut up? Did she seriously sound pissed or did she sound pissed but not quite completely angry and nothing else?"

I thought about it. "You know, she did sound kind of skittish. She only gets skittish like that when she's nervous beyond comprehension, lying about something massive, or both at the same time." I felt myself grinning. "She doesn't hate me. Hell, I think there's a damn good chance that she might even feel the same way about me that I do about her!"

"Then we've got a place to start from," Brenda said. She smiled back at me. "This is Max, so you're still going to need to tread carefully. Now that she knows where you stand, I think that you should not quite back off so much as be a lot more subtle about winning Max over or at least getting her to realize how she really feels about you. Personally, based on what I've observed of Max's behavior and all, I'd have to agree that she's really in love with you and doesn't know it yet."

"Yeah, she still thinks that Logan is her Mr. Right," I said. I groaned. "She said that she was going to go over to roller boy's place after she goes over something with Dix. She's going to tell Logie all about what happened and he's going to fill her head with so much B.S. about how big of a loser I am."

"Unfortunately, the odds are that you're right," Brenda agreed.

I shrugged. "You know what? There are few things that I enjoy more than proving Logan wrong about something. He wants to try to convince Max that I'm a stupid jerk who's good for absolutely nothing? Then I'll just have to be the best friend that I can be to her. Dropping subtle reminders to her about how I feel, of course." I took another sip of my water before I put the glass down on Brenda's coffee table and leaned back. "Yep, I've got to show Logan what it is to be a real man."

"I've always felt that all's fair in love and war," Brenda said. "God only knows that you know a lot about the latter."

"And just about as much about love," I said. I raised my glass in a mock toast. "Here's to Max and here's to love. May Logan lose this battle." Logie my boy, you're going to go down.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Alec, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Brenda/X5-008, etc.).

After thinking things over and somehow getting through the rest of that day with Max avoiding me as much as possible, I was getting ready to do something that had the potential to be even more excruciating than getting your toenails ripped out: going back to Josh's house to meet with Logan about even more information that he found for us. Guess who I'm going with? If you guessed Max, then you win the grand prize. I just have to psyche myself up for this. No problem. Max probably still is at least pretending to be pissed at me and I know that Logan would want to bludgeon me if he gets the chance. Ha, I'd like to see that moron try! Even if he puts that exoskeleton on, I'm still faster.

"Are you going to open your eyes so that we can see Logan and get this information or are you going to fall asleep on your feet?" Max asked.

"Relax, Maxie, I'm just thinking," I said. "Which of his contacts did he get this information from? Was it Sung again or somebody else?"

"Somebody else," Max said. "Though you were close. It's another cop in the Seattle P.D." The door opened and Max smiled. "Hey, Logan."

"Hey, sweetheart," Logan said. He immediately pulled Max into a kiss and wouldn't let her go until Max pushed him away. He was beaming at Max, but his eyes glanced towards me and I really wanted to gag. The guy was even more territorial than an X5 but without the subtlety. He turned to face me. Nice fake smile, dude. "Hello, Alec."

"Hey, Logan," I said.

"Come on in," Logan said. He stepped aside to let us in. What, you're not going to try to stick out your leg in a vain attempt to try to trip me? "Have a seat while I go get the print outs of the information and the disc that it came on."

"Thanks," I said. I sat down on the couch. Max sat next to me, but kept her distance. I frowned. I wanted like hell to move closer to her, but I didn't want to piss her off even more than she probably still was. I settled for moving half an inch closer. "This information could really be put to some good use. It might give us the leverage we need to try to get something going about officially getting us out into the general public."

"Are you purposefully avoiding the issue between you and me?" Max asked.

Leave it to Max to get right to the point. "Only because I don't know where the boundaries are about that for you," I said honestly. "If you want to talk about it, then I've got no problems talking about it."

Max nodded. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

"I'm sorry that I just let it out the way that I did," I said. "I wanted to tell you, but I wanted to try to tell you at a more appropriate time. My mouth, on the other hand…" I shrugged.

"What is it with men and patience?" Max said. She shook her head, but I could see that twinkle in her eyes that meant that she was teasing. Yes! She's warming up. Take this slow, Alec, nice and slow. Don't blow this now.

"I don't know," I said. "But if I ever find that one out, I'll clue you in."

"About what?" Max and I turned around and a few moments later, Logan finished walking down the stairs and over to us.

"Why men are so impatient sometimes," Max said. She sighed. "On that note, I've got to go use the bathroom. I'm sorry."

"No problem," I said. I stood up and stretched. "I'm going to go sit on the back porch for a few. I wanna enjoy this weather while it lasts." I walked through the house to the back door and went outside and sat down on the steps of said back porch. Things are starting to look up. What am I going to do for my next move? I should still keep things relatively subtle. Maybe I should invite Max to hang out with some of the other guys. Hmm, maybe I should let Krit and Syl in on the plan, or at least Krit. He told me that he doesn't like Logan much so I'm pretty sure that he'll be a good ally for me. I suddenly turned my head back in the direction of the house and frowned. Just what I need when I'm trying to strategize.

Logan opened the door and stepped outside. "Enjoying yourself, Alec?"

"The weather's really nice," I said.

"It is," Logan agreed. He sat down next to me. I took a quick look at him and mentally groaned. Here it comes. "Max mentioned something to me when she came over." He gave me an evil look. "She told me that you just blurted out that you loved her as more than a friend."

"Yeah," I said.

"Listen to me," Logan said. "Max is my girlfriend. I don't give a rat's ass what your feelings for her are, but you are to keep your hands to yourself. How dare you throw yourself at her the way that you did! You should be ashamed of yourself."

"I didn't throw myself at Max," I said. Don't you just love how Logan seems to bend the facts around to his benefit? I wonder if that's something they taught him in the journalism classes back at Yale. "I didn't go about telling her in the way that I should have, but give me some credit here. I know better than to throw yourself at a woman, especially one who's dating somebody else."

Logan narrowed his eyes. "Just stay away from Max."

"I'm her friend," I reminded him. "Not to mention that I help her keep Terminal City running. Staying away from her is going to be next to impossible. I'm not going to be forcing myself on her if that's what you're worried about. Max has made it clear where the lines are in our _friendship_ and since I have an even clearer picture of where they are, I won't be crossing them." Until she gives me the green light to take a flying leap over them, that is. "I don't blame you for being paranoid. With somebody as special as Max, I'd be worried myself."

"She is special," Logan agreed. He frowned. "She shouldn't be putting herself in danger day after day like she's been doing for the past few years. She shouldn't be doing half of the things that she does."

Breathe deeply. Don't strangle him yet. "She's been in danger from minute one of her life," I reminded him. "She knows how to handle herself. Don't worry so much about it, Logan. Max knows what she's doing."

"No—I mean, I guess you're right," Logan said. Did I just almost hear you say that you don't have faith in your girlfriend? "But she still shouldn't be—"

"I still shouldn't be doing what?"

I love you, Max. "Hey."

"Hey, Alec." Max gave me a quick smile before she turned to Logan. Do you have any idea how happy I am that the look that she's giving him is for Logan and not for me? The last time she gave it to me was before the Jam Pony hostage nightmare. "Logan, will you please just relax and trust me? Alec is right. I know exactly what I am doing and silly me, I was under the impression that you were aware of that fact."

"I know that you know what you're doing, but I'm still worried as hell about you," Logan said. "Just because you're sure of your actions doesn't mean that you should be doing them in the first place." I could practically see the bonfire in Max's eyes. I sighed mentally. As much as I really wanted to see Logan get his ass verbally roasted from here to New York City, we really did have some business to take care of.

"How about we cool off here, kids," I suggested. "Where are those print outs, Logan?"

"Right inside," Logan said. "I left them on the coffee table." He waved us towards the house and Max and I followed him inside. I was grinning to myself. Next time, I wasn't going to save Logan from the verbal ass kicking. Hell, I'd tape it.

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Alec, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Brenda/X5-008, etc.).

"Glad that you could join me, man," I said to Krit the next day when he entered my tiny ass office in the main building in Terminal City. "Park yourself on that chair."

"Will do," Krit said. "What's up, Alec?"

"I need your help," I said. "I'm guessing that you heard by now what I said to Max, right?"

"Yeah, that you're in love with her," Krit said. "You need my help getting my sister to come around about how she feels about you? No problem. I'm there."

That was easy. "Thanks. You just saved myself some breath," I remarked.

Krit laughed. "No problem. I never liked that guy." He frowned. "When we were planning the DNA lab job, he was…I won't get into it, but let's just say that he hasn't changed at all since when I first met him so I'm sure that you have a pretty good idea of the specifics of my personal opinion of Logan Cale."

"So, what do we do?" I asked. "You know Max even better than I do. I want to be subtle because I know that if I go for the bold approach she'll hand me my head on a silver platter. What I'm still not sure about is just how subtle I'll need to be. I probably really know her enough by now to know how I need to go about this, but it's a different story when you're on this end. You know what I mean?"

"Oh yeah," Krit said. "I can tell you for sure that cornering her where there's nobody around in shouting distance is a bad thing for both of you. I mean, it'll be bad for her because she'll feel trapped before you can get any words out of your mouth and it'll be bad for you if she gets pissed, though I'm sure she won't be if you don't make your move too soon, and decides to beat the living crap out of you. If and when you do make your move again, make sure that you have privacy but keep within shouting distance of somebody like myself, Syl, Jondy, Zane, Brenda, Nick, or even Mole. Think of it as a safety blanket or backup for the two of you."

"That sounds like a good idea," I said. I should have asked for Krit's advice sooner. "I should give it some more time before I give it another go, probably at least two or so weeks. That should be enough time for Max to calm down and loosen up, right? Not to mention that it'll lull Logie into a false sense of security when he doesn't see me making any obvious kinds of moves on Max." I couldn't help grinning at that thought. Tricking Logan like that would be a lot of fun. Krit also grinned. It's nice to have friends that think along the same lines as you do.

"Not a bad idea at all," he said.

"We are on a roll," I agreed. I cracked my knuckles. "I think we should bring some people into our plans. I know for sure that Brenda would be willing to go along with us and Nick would almost certainly join in as well. What about the other present members of your gang? What do you think about them?"

"They'll be ready, willing, and able," Krit assured me. "Syl, Jondy, Zane, and Brin will all be wanting to help as soon as I say the word." His smile became slightly sad. "I think this might be good for Brin in a way, you know? Participating in a group activity with her sibs. She's still a little bit shaken and not all the way back to normal from the mind job that Manticore did to her from when she'd been taken back after she'd gotten sick."

"Those kinds of deals can last awhile," I said. How many of those did they try to do on me? It wasn't fun any time that it happened. I tried to shake myself out of it. "Anyway, how about—" I heard voices coming from the control room and Krit and I got up, left my office, and headed in the direction that we'd heard the noises from. When we got to the control room, we saw Max and Logan standing near one of the other entrances talking. Well, Logan was trying to talk to Max and Max's patience was about to be thrown out the window. Krit and I stood in the back of the room and tried not to be too obvious.

"Max, are you sure that you don't want to just go outside for awhile?" Logan asked. "You can borrow a helmet or a hat or something to keep your face hidden. I know this great little place that's pretty much in the middle of nowhere that has the best Italian food that you will ever have in your lifetime and—"

"Logan, no," Max said, cutting Miracle Boy off cold. "I already told you that I've got a lot of business to take care of here tonight. It's a damn good thing that I don't sleep because I'm going to need those hours to get all of those things done and before you say anything, yes, they do have to get done tonight. We'll do something tomorrow night or the night after. I promise."

"Max, it can't be that much work," Logan said. "Besides, don't you have people here to help you? Just give it to Alec and let him do everything and just take a night off to enjoy yourself." You are so lucky that Krit's here to stop me from going up to you and giving you the mother of all ass kickings.

"I do have people to help me run this city and they're already loaded with work to do," Max said. "Especially Alec since he's my right hand man around here. It wouldn't be fair of me to just dump all of the stuff that I'm supposed to do on top of his work load and expect it all to be done by the morning when it's supposed to be completed. And did I mention the fact that Alec needs to get about three or four hours of sleep every night? He doesn't have any shark DNA in him."

"If you just don't want to spend the night with me, why don't you just say so?" Logan snapped.

"I do want to go have dinner with you," Max said angrily. "Were you listening to a single word that I was saying? I want to have dinner with you tonight but I can't because I have work to do. Did you understand me this time or do I have to repeat myself again?"

"Max, listen to me," Logan said. What are you going to lecture her on now, Daddy? "You are working yourself much too hard. You need to take a rest and get away from people like Alec. He's all over you like some sick puppy dog. The man just says he loves you and won't leave you alone. Let's go, Max. I'm going to take you to dinner."

"Excuse me? Where do you get off telling me what to do?" Max yelled. "Alec's timing might suck, you were right about that, but at least he's a man and knows when to back off." Max, you just made my day! "You just will not give up even when you know that you aren't winning or won't win a point. And besides, may I remind you that we're in a very public place and you're treating me like a little girl? Back off right now, Logan."

"I am not treating you like a little girl," Logan began. Um, yes you are. "But you are sure acting like one. Calm down right now and let's go get some food."

Explosion in 5…4…3…2…1… "You are not my father!" Max snapped. "You might be older than me by a good eleven years, but that does not mean that you have any right to treat me like I'm a baby." She glared at him and even I had to wince. "You have no idea how happy I am that the virus is gone and that I don't have to worry about you keeling over at the slightest touch. Now since that bitch is out of the way, I can take my time kicking your ass and enjoy every minute of it."

"What do you mean, Max?"

"I mean, get out of Terminal City right now," Max said. "We're done. You shouldn't even be here in the first place because of the toxins, remember?"

"We're done? What do you mean, we're done?" Logan demanded.

"I mean that we're finished," Max said. "There's no such thing as 'us' from this point on. If you want to get your head out of your ass and still be friends, then I have no problem with that. I would like that. But as of right now, we're not 'like that.'" She pointed to the door that they had entered the control room from. "Go, Logan." She watched him leave and stood there for several moments after he was long gone before she turned around and walked right by Krit and me and left the control room herself. My jaw was on the floor. As much as I didn't like Logan, I didn't expect this to happen or at least not the way that it did. I felt torn. I knew that I should follow her, it killed me to see her this upset, but I didn't know how she would react to seeing me considering what had gone down over the last few days. I made eye contact with Jondy and Brenda, who had been in the room as well, and they nodded in understanding and went after Max. Krit and I gave each other a look and we retreated back to my office.

"I don't believe it," Krit said. "Poor Maxie."

"Yeah," I said. "After knowing the guy for all this time and going through what they had, for it to end like this…damn." I sighed. "I wanted them to break up, but I never wanted it to hurt Max, much less the way that it did. You saw the look on her face after Logan left. I feel horrible."

"You and me both," Krit said.

"Yep," I said. Not much else I could say. Poor Max.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Alec, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Brenda/X5-008, etc.).

I nodded in sympathy after Zane finished his story. "Oh yeah, that's always a pain-in-the-ass. Just when you think you finally have it beat, it goes to hell in a hand basket on you. Just hang with it and eventually you'll have it down."

"Thanks, man," Zane said. He, Nick, Krit, and I stopped at an intersection and he stared off in the direction of the gates. "You know, maybe I'm just being delusional, but I could swear that they're actually not screaming as many obscenities as usual today."

"Well, you always are delusional." That line got a laugh out of Krit and a grin from me when I saw the woman who had delivered it.

"Hey, Max," I greeted her. "How are things with you?"

"Same old, same old," Max said. She snorted. "I got rid of my second new cell phone in the past three weeks. Logan kept on finding my number every time that I would get a new one. Just because you know how to hack into records to find things doesn't mean that it's a good idea. And you would think that he would have gotten the hint when I called him back and asked nicely—and I really did ask him nicely, you guys, honestly—that he was filling up my inbox with all of these 'please come back to me' messages and that what if you guys, Brenda, Dix, or somebody like that needs to leave an important message and they can't because he's got the inbox filled with his B.S." Max sighed, looking a little disappointed. "Fixit's gonna feel kind of bad if and when I tell her about this. She was the one who snuck out to get me a new phone and she swore that she did it well enough so that Logan wouldn't be able to get the number."

"She probably did," I said. "But she also barely knows Logan and doesn't know just how skilled he is with computers and hacking, not to mention the fact that when people are determined to accomplish something, you'd be surprised at what and how much they can get done." It's true. It doesn't mean that Logan won't get at least a good slap upside the head the next time he shows his face around here, but it's still a valid point.

Max managed a smile. "Good call." She stretched her arms and the smile became more realistic. "So, what have you guys been doing? Something so disgustingly male that I wouldn't want to know?"

That got a laugh from me and the other guys. "Nope. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but we haven't done anything that would make you want to run screaming for the hills…yet," Krit said. "Give us some time, though."

"Yeah," Zane added. "Have we ever let you down before?"

"When it comes to that, you certainly haven't," Max conceded. "I was wondering if any of you would like to help me with getting things going organizing a new supply run."

"Would like to help or you dragging us by our hair kicking and screaming?" I teased.

"Very funny, ass," Max said. "I was seriously asking. Anybody?"

"I would, but I don't know how long we'd be and I've got a scheduled shift on sentry duty in an hour," Nick said. "I'm sorry."

"No harm, no foul," Max assured him. She grinned wickedly and I had to laugh. "We can always start talking right here, right now. You do know that X5s can multitask really well."

"Nick, old buddy," I said, slapping him on the back. "Never, ever give this woman any ideas. Trust me. You give her a quarter of an inch and she'll run with it for a few miles at least." I smiled reassuringly at him and turned my attention back to Max. "If you want to get the ball rolling on planning the run, then let's do it. Those X6s that came back from that scouting run yesterday morning reported that there's a new shopping center that just opened twenty miles south of here. There's a supermarket and a small sporting goods store included in there. We might not be able to get much from the sporting goods store, but we should be able to pick up a few items such as clothes and a little equipment for physical training. Our big break there will be the supermarket. As far as post-Pulse ones go, it's a keeper."

"Not bad," Max said. "What about the sporting goods store? What's the exact quality and quantity of their stash? Is it even going to be worth making a grab at what's there or should we forget about that and concentrate all effort and manpower on getting as much as we can from the supermarket?"

"Personally. I would concentrate on the supermarket," Krit said. "Those kids said that the sporting goods store carried some high-quality stuff, but that there wasn't that much of it and it's not items that are on the top of our major needs list. If we do need those types of things, then there's a much bigger sporting goods place over near Tacoma that we could raid."

Max thought it over. "Not a bad idea. I'll definitely keep it in mind. When we get back to the control room, Alec, I want to see copies of the reports from those X6s and then we can make a final decision based on that."

"Consider it done, Maxie," I told her.

"Max! Max!" Oh, hell.

"Logan!" I couldn't tell if Max was more surprised or pissed. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I haven't heard from you in two weeks," Logan said. "I keep on leaving messages, but you never return them. I was so worried about you, so I decided to just come here myself to make sure that you were okay."

"I'm fine," Max said icily. "What would make you think that I wouldn't be good?"

"Well, the fact that you haven't been returning my calls," Logan said, going right back into his I-think-I'm-talking-to-a-three-year-old mode. Please let Max kick his ass this time. "You also have changed your cell phone number a few times. Do you know just how hard it was for me to find out your new number? I called the control room here so many times and I was told that they did not have your number and they told me that if it was a private cell phone number, that they had no reason to keep it in their files there. What kind of an excuse was that? Silly me, I thought that you might have been in danger."

"Logan, if at any time I was in danger, then I would have made sure that you would have found out about it," Max snapped. "Did you ever stop to think that it was not only rude to fill up my inboxes on those cell phones with so many messages, but what would have happened if let's say I was in a dead zone and somebody like Alec had tried to call and left a message saying that he was in serious trouble and needed help? Stop and think, Logan. I'm not even going to get into how pissed I am that you keep getting your hands on my new cell phone numbers when I'm obviously not wanting you to have them."

"Don't get smart with me, Max," Logan said. "If you were really trying to avoid me, then why did the guards at the gates let me in?"

Max winced. "Crap, I knew that there was something that I forgot to do."

"Don't sweat it," I said. "Just don't forget to tell them when Logie here leaves."

"Butt out of this, you little moron," Logan said. He got down on one knee and I was really seeing red. If he had the nerve… "Max, I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry and I want you to come back to me. Please, let us get back together. I miss you so much. I think about you all of the time. Nothing's the same without you by my side. I feel so lonely. Please, come back."

"If I wanted to come back to you, I would have done it already or not have broken up with you in the first place," Max said. "I'm sorry, Logan, but I still stand by my decision."

"No," Logan said. "You can't. Max, I'm begging you. Come back."

"I won't," Max said. "I don't want to get back together with you."

"Excuse me?" Logan said. "Max, you can't be serious. Why won't you come back? Is it Alec?" Wow, I'm surprised it took Logan this long to drag me into this argument. "Don't tell me that he's actually managed to convince you to be…his." You say that like it's a bad thing, like it's Max getting together with your sorry rear end.

"Grow up," Max spat. "Alec, believe it or not, has not said anything to me about that since he said that he was going to back off and I know that you don't want to acknowledge it, but he has kept his word. I'm going to give you one chance before I kick your ass from here to San Diego. Please leave me alone, leave Terminal City, and don't come calling unless I call you first. If and when I get a new cell phone number, do not hack it again. Please, Logan."

"Please?" Logan was really losing his temper. This could be amusing. "Please? I ask you please about a million times and you refuse, but you say please and you expect me to go along with it? I don't think so, Max. That is not how this works. Stop being a spoiled little bitch right this instance." Forget amusing, now I'm pissed. Logan saw how angry I was and smirked. "Oh, now Alec's going to beat me up because I called you a spoiled bitch?"

Something caught my eye and I couldn't help smiling. "Nope, I don't have to. I guess this is the problem when you grow up as an only child and don't have a lot of friends, or at least friends who have sisters."

"Huh?" Logan looked lost.

"Alec doesn't have to kick your ass…" Unlike Logan, Max knew exactly what I was talking about and made a motion with one of her hands. Zane and Krit walked right up to Logan's face and glared down at him. "…because Krit and Zane will be more than happy to do it for him."

"Never mess with the baby princess of the family, Logan," I said. "Because the big brothers will be right there to make you pay for it."

"Guys, can you do me a favor and take Logan to the gates and make sure that he leaves?" Max asked.

"Not a problem," Zane assured her.

I walked up to Logan, grinned wickedly, and patted him on the shoulder. "Just remember this, buddy: it could be worse." Judging by how Logan was shaking, I think this time he knew just what I was talking about and who I was referring to.

"I should head back to the control room and spread the word to everybody on sentry duty at the gates about Logan," Max said as she, Nick, and I watched Zane and Krit lead Logan off.

"Good call," I said.

"Yeah," Max agreed. She turned to me and smiled. "Alec? Thanks for not losing your temper when Logan was baiting you."

If it means seeing that smile, I'll be an angel forever. "No problem. Always."

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Alec, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Brenda/X5-008, etc.).

"Time for Phase One of Plan A," I said to Krit, Zane, and Nick as we walked through Terminal City. "Damn, I hope that this works."

"So do we," Zane agreed. I turned my head to glare at him and he laughed. "Relax, Alec, I'm sure that it'll work. This will be a great first move. You'll be with her underneath the stars on a beautiful night and I know that it won't be long until you'll be doing that with her all by yourselves."

I smirked. "Like big boys and girls?"

Zane grinned. "Exactly."

"It'll be interesting, that's for sure," Nick remarked. He made a face. "Please tell me that Max didn't make the food for our little outing tonight."

"Don't worry, Syl and Brenda took care of the cooking with some help from Joshua," Krit assured him. "We're going to be having food that's not only edible, but actually good."

"Thank goodness," Nick said. "'Cause if we're not, then I'm really sorry, Alec, but I'm going to have to bail on this."

"Completely understandable," I laughed.

Time out to explain a couple of things. It's been two weeks since Logan made his last appearance here in T.C. to beg for Max's forgiveness. I've been careful to not be too much of an idiot with Max. It really wasn't as hard as I thought that it might have been. I might be madly in love with Max, but I was still and always would be her friend and that was what she'd needed lately. Since some time has passed, though, I thought that I should make my first move in Max's direction, so to speak. After a pow-wow with Krit, Zane, Syl, Jondy, Brin, Nick, and Brenda, we came up with a plan for tonight, said plan being a nice nighttime picnic with all of us, during which I would possibly make a couple of subtle moves or the other make a few insinuations. I know, a picnic in the middle of Terminal City? You can pretty much thank Josh for that one. He'd read about picnics one day not too long after we'd moved in following the Jam Pony incident and had wanted to have one, but patches of grass are kind of in short supply here. What we did have was a huge plaza and what we did find in one of the abandoned warehouses was a gigantic square of that foam material that they used to use in pillows and on the space shuttle. Max, Josh, and I came up with the idea of spreading the foam across the plaza and covering the foam with a tarp, thus making a nice, comfy area for people to enjoy the outdoors when the weather wasn't too bad. Sweet idea, isn't it? But back to the situation at hand.

"Okay, where are they?" I wondered as we got to the plaza. I checked my watch. Seven on the nose. We'd made plans for the girls to meet us—oh, there they were. "Hey, ladies. Glad that you could make it."

"We wouldn't miss it," Max said. "Nice weather, friends and family, decent food…top that combo."

"I know I'd be hard pressed to top it," Brenda agreed. She unrolled the blankets that she'd been carrying and spread them out over the tarp. "This is going to be great."

"Definitely," Jondy seconded.

We sat down, Jondy and Brin opened the large coolers that they'd been carrying, and we began to chow down on the food. Nice. A bazillion fast food places out in Seattle and Syl and Jondy manage to make fried chicken here in T.C. that beats the stuff in those places to hell in a hurry. Ahh, nothing washes fried chicken down like a cold beer. I was honestly having a great time, and I could tell that everybody else was as well.

"This was great," Zane said with a satisfied sigh. He stuffed one last forkful of potato salad in his mouth, swallowed, and stood up. "Unfortunately, I've got to get going. Brenda and I have some plans."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow. This was news to me. Bren didn't mention anything to me before about doing anything with Zane. "And what might those plans be?"

"We're going to have a threesome," Brenda said. She caught the incredulous looks on Syl and Brin's faces. "Don't worry, the other woman is an X5. I used to know her from back in the day."

"Zane, you're a pig," Max said, disgusted.

I held up a hand. "Let's back this up, Maxie. Brenda says she and Zane are going to have a threesome and you don't bat an eyelash when she mentions it, but Zane's a pig?" I clicked my tongue. "Maxie, Maxie, Maxie…"

"Don't worry, we're all consenting adults about to engage in activity that all three of us agreed on," Brenda said. "Gem's watching Pete, so he's in good hands. And I can assure you that every protection will be used." She gave Zane a sweet smile. "Or somebody won't get any." That got a laugh out of everybody.

"Please tell me that you forgot your stuff," Krit begged, grinning. Nick nearly spit out his mouthful of beer, but managed to keep it and his laughter under control.

"Good one." He and Krit exchanged high fives. I took advantage of their lack of attention to their stuff and leaned over Max to grab Krit's beer. I just happened to brush Max as I reached over her. I briefly tensed, expecting her to smack me. She didn't. Phew! Good sign. Unfortunately, Krit caught me trying to make the grab on his drink.

"Nice try, but no cigar," he said gleefully. He gave me a shove backwards and I ended up crashing into Max. Well, it was more like crashing on top of her because my balance was off because I wasn't expecting Krit to shove me. Honestly, I wasn't. He and the others had mentioned possibly trying something half-major, but they didn't know what.

"Krit, you moron," Max snapped. She turned her head to look at me and I was breathless. My God, she has the most beautiful eyes. "Are you okay, Alec?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I managed to say. Reluctantly, I got off of her and helped her sit back up. "Are you good?"

"As gold," she replied. She glared at Krit. "Whether or not my brother will be fine, on the other hand…"

"I think this would be the time for you to run and hide, little brother," Brin commented.

Syl raised an eyebrow when Krit gave her a pleading look. "What? I'll try to protect you, but you know Max."

"Yeah," Krit conceded.

Max looked at her watch. "It's getting late and I think I'm going to have to get some sleep tonight, plus I want to get a few things done before I hit the sack. Does anybody mind?"

"No, I don't mind," I said.

"Me, neither," Jondy seconded. "I might need to sleep tonight as well." We got up and began to put the now empty food containers away in the coolers and roll up the blankets. A minute or two later, we started heading back to our apartments. I turned my head to talk to Max.

"I had fun tonight," I told her. "Sorry again about Krit shoving me."

"No harm, no foul, and if there's any bruises, they'll be gone by sunrise," Max said. She smiled. "It was fun."

I couldn't resist. "But probably not as much fun as Zane and Brenda will be having tonight, huh?"

Max smacked me on my shoulder, but there was still a sparkle in her eyes. "What an ass. I'll see you in the morning, Alec." She walked ahead of me to catch up with her sisters and I gave Krit a thumbs-up. Count Phase One as a success.

TBC


End file.
